Good afternoon everyone! :)
Welcome to another trip report! As promised, I got all the pictures together of my trip from Newark Liberty to Berlin Brandenburg Airport.
Enjoy! :)
I had just arrived from Kansas City on time, but before we could pull into our gate, we had to wait as our parking position was still occupied by another aircraft, which had a delay due to a maintenance issue, so the airport tried to find a new position for us, but nothing was available. So the pilots shut the engines off for the time being. At least I wasn‘t in a hurry, as I still had almost two hours until my connecting flight to Germany. The advantage of our gate change was that we parked right next to my flight to Berlin, so I didn‘t have to change terminals or anything. You don‘t get this lucky every day! :)
My aircraft for the flight across the pond, the legendary Boeing 767-300ER. The 767 entered service with United Airlines on September 8, 1982. The aircraft's first commercial flight used a JT9D-powered 767-200 on the Chicago-to-Denver route. Shortly afterwards, demand for larger-capacity models increased, so Boeing announced the stretched 767-300 in 1983 and the extended-range 767-300ER in 1984. Both models offered a 20 percent passenger capacity increase, while the extended-range version was capable of operating flights up to 5,990 nautical miles (11,090 km; 6,890 mi). (Source: Wikipedia)
Boarding started on time and was completed very quickly. Despite me being in boarding group 3, I didn‘t have to wait long until my group was called.
My window view. If you have read my other reports too, you might have noticed that I love to sit behind the wing, as it is exciting to watch the aerodynamics in operation. :) Although I would love to fly in United‘s Polaris class some day! Next to us is the plane that took me over here from MCI (Embraer 175). In the end, I was happy about the gate change. :)
Soon after boarding was completed, the Captain welcomed us on board and told us that, thanks to a lot of tailwind, the flight time would be only 7.5 hours, about 30 minutes less than originally thought.
Prior to departure, United‘s IFE offers an overview of what to expect on the upcoming flight.
Newark Liberty International Airport is one of United‘s hubs and the airline operates in and out of Terminal C, to over 300 destinations worldwide, over 80 of them are in the U.S.
We pushed back on time right before 5:45 pm, our scheduled departure time. The Captain got back to us one more time to let us know that we were just waiting for a couple of aircraft in front of us to start taxiing, then we would be on our way.
After the flaps had been extended to takeoff position and the pilots performed their flight controls check, we started taxiing out to Runway 04L.
On the right in the distance you can see a bit of NYC :)
Three of United‘s Boeing 777, also a remarkable aircraft! I know I‘ve flown them before, but many, many years ago. I definitely need to try to get on a plane like this again! :)
TAP Air Portugal Airbus A321LR (Long Range) departing for Lisbon. Just about 2-3 airplanes are in front of us, then it‘s our turn. :)
Rush hour at EWR :) Lots of planes are lining up to unite the world. The Boeing 777 in the background is Austrian Airlines heading back to Vienna.
Right before 6pm local time, we were cleared for takeoff and on our way to Germany. You can watch the video of the takeoff below. Enjoy! :)
After slightly banking right, we were on course towards Europe.
Beautiful view, isn‘t it?! :)
Shortly after we had reached our cruising altitude, the flight attendants started serving dinner. My meal was a combination between chicken, noodles and beans, along with a salad, a bun, and a crumb cake cookie for dessert. Everything was very delicious!
Soon after dinner, the sun set over the coast of Canada. During this season, there is only a bit of darkness on transatlantic flights, so it wasn‘t going to be long until the sun would rise again on the other side.
Good night! :)
I got at least a bit of sleep on this flight, watched Harry Potter, and woke up right before sunrise near Ireland. From that point on, time starts to go by really fast. Only about two more hours to Berlin! :)
Good morning! :)
One of my favorite features of United‘s inflight entertainment is the From-The-Flight-Deck-section. As a former student pilot myself, I love to listen to live ATC communication, however, it didn‘t work on this flight, possibly because we were still over water, although I tried it again over Great Britain, without any success.
Time to destination : 1 hour 23 minutes
Distance to destination: 632 miles
Breakfast was served over the Netherlands. What I personally dislike about United‘s Economy is that they serve very little for breakfast. Considering that it‘s "the most important meal of the day," I believe that this leaves some room for improvement. Anyways, breakfast was a Chobani yogurt with a biscotti…
…and coffee, of course! :)
Almost there! :)
Altitude: 36995 feet Tailwind: 47 miles per hour
As we entered German airspace, the Captain announced our descent into Berlin. He reported nice weather, clear skies, mild temperatures, and good visibility. Just like we had expected, we would land 30 minutes early and be at our gate shortly afterwards. Thanks to the wonderful weather, the views could not have been better! :)
Flight attendants, prepare for arrival :)
As we get closer to Berlin, you will see some of Brandenburg‘s beautiful landscape, including its famous lakes and rivers, such as the Havel. It is also a great place to live! :)
Time for the spoilers to get to work… :)
Havelland is a historic landscape in Brandenburg. The region, around which the Havel flows in a U-shape, is very sparsely populated. The larger towns developed by the crossings over the River Havel are Spandau (today part of Berlin), Potsdam, Brandenburg and Rathenow. Other central settlements in the Havelland are Rhinow, Premnitz, Nauen and Friesack. The town of Falkensee and its surrounding villages have grown rapidly.
Extending the flaps for landing. The flight was smooth almost all the way. We just had a bit of turbulence as we got closer to Ireland, but other than that, it was one of the smoothest flights that I had ever been on.
Making a slight left turn to line up with Runway 07L.
Good morning Berlin! ❤️?
At about 7:30 am local time, we touched down at Berlin Brandenburg (BER) Airport. I couldn‘t get over what a beautiful morning it was in my home country, and I was looking forward to head to my apartment, get some rest, and then go see my favorite city again! :)
Thank you very much for the ride, United crew! :)
Greetings from sunny Berlin! :)
Thanks for sharing this FR! It's interesting to see how much UA's route network has shifted in the past years from business-driven destinations (DUS/HAM) to nowadays all tourist-driven destinations. At least they have kept BER to at least serve northern Germany better. UA catering continues to un-inspire. The dinner looks okay, but the pre-arrival meal is pretty bare bones, but at least is consistent with the trend on AC/LH from the East Coast. There are a lot less B787s operating out of the Eastern hubs, so I guess this route will stay on B767 for a while longer. Very few B767s make it out to LAX/SFO these days.
Thanks for reading my report and for your feedback! :) Yes, United‘s route network has changed significantly over the years, and I really love its new connections to BER, including the EWR-BER route. It made it especially convenient for me, because I only had to change planes once from MCI. But I agree, as you said, the catering could really be better, at least for the pre-arrival snack. Let‘s see if this improves some day. :)
767s are such confortable aircraft to fly in Y with the spacious 2-3-2 configuration! I hope UA and DL will keep them around for a while. It's too bad AA retired them during the pandemic, but they were not committed to having them again for long even before the pandemic. I assume UA will have the 767s around a while since they recently refurbished them and are currently upgrading the 764 cabins.
Overall a good TATL Y experience, though unsurprisingly the catering is mediocre, but that's almost to be expected on a US carrier.
Thanks for sharing!